Nintendo Found Guilty Of Infringing Glasses-Free 3D Patent

According to a report from Reuters, Nintendo has been found guilty of patent infringement in a U.S. court. A New York federal judge ruled that the plumber loving game company had unlawfully used inventor Seijiro Tomita’s 3D technology in their 3DS. The ruling will force Nintendo to compensate Tomita a whopping $30.2 million for damages.

In opening arguments last month, Tomita’s attorney, Joe Diamante, told the jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that Nintendo used technology that Tomita developed for its 3DS. Tomita is a former longtime Sony Corp employee.

But Scott Lindvall, a defense attorney for the Super Mario Bros franchise creator, argued that the 3DS doesn’t use key aspects of Tomita’s patent.

Lindvall also said a 2003 meeting with Nintendo officials that Tomita cited in his argument was merely one of several the company held with vendors selling 3-D display technology.

While Nintendo of America failed to comment after the court’s decision, Kotaku managed to reach out to them and receive this reply:

A jury awarded $30.2 million in damages to Tomita Technologies in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Tomita against Nintendo. The Tomita patent did not relate to the 3D games playable on the Nintendo 3DS. The trial was held in U.S. District Court in New York before Judge Jed Rakoff.

Nintendo is confident that the result will be set aside. The jury’s verdict will not impact Nintendo’s continued sales in the United States of its highly acclaimed line of video game hardware, software and accessories, including the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others.

During its development of the 3DS, Nintendo was known to have met with multiple inventors of different 3D technologies, including Seijiro Tomita. Do you believe Nintendo took his technology on purpose, or was it all just one big $30.2 million misunderstanding? Please leave your opinion in the comments below!

English teacher and freelance writer Jonathan Parsons is a longtime gamer working abroad in Japan. He spends his free time swimming through the Akita winter snow to his car and playing classic PC and Famicom games.